Spring project
Spring, or TA Spring (was recently renamed to just Spring), is a program originally created as a 3D Total Annihilation demo viewer by the Swedish Yankspankers, but that has since progressed into a full 3D open source RTS engine. The core game engine is released under the GPL License; however, to play the prepackaged mod that comes with the full installer, you must own a copy of TA to legally play it, there are other mods however, both in development and released, that are completely free to use. It is being developed by the Swedish Yankspankers and the Spring community. The initial goal was to have the game run the mods and 3rd party units from Total Annihilation. This goal is now mostly complete, and the project has moved on to including additional features. The game is mainly focused around multiplayer games over the Internet or a LAN connection. There are currently no single player campaigns or missions, although there is some basic support for this through Lua scripting. There are also many skirmish AI's under development, allowing for offline play or extra players in an online game. One skirmish AI (NTAI) ships in the game package. The source code TA Spring's source code, licenced under the GNU General Public License, is primarily written in the C++ programming language with the exception of the lobby which is written in Delphi, and the server and client which are written in Java. The C++ code structure is written in an object-oriented manner and is documented using doxygen standards in addition to non-standardized formats. The official source code package includes project files for various IDEs and building tools, including SCons, KDevelop, Microsoft Visual C++ 7.0/8.0, and XCode. Features Some of the defining features of this game are: * Large battles, with support for up to 5000 units per player. * Unlimited resources * Ability to handle "large" maps. * Fully 3D camera view, allowing for completely free movement. * Realistic 3D trajectories for weapons * Fully 3D air combat * Detailed terrain. Some maps are directly exported from terrain rendering tools such as L3DT and Terragen. * Deformable terrain (example) * Compatible with unit files from Total Annihilation, allowing 3rd party units to easily be moved into Spring. * Large ''Total Annihilation'' mod base, ranging from the popular TA mod, Absolute Annihilation, to spaceship wars in TA: Final Frontier, to modern day warfare in World Domination and Star Wars-based combat in Star Wars TA. * Frequent updates, bug fixes and additions. Mods There are several mods currently available for TA Spring. These include: *'Absolute Annihilation: Spring' **Author(s): Caydr, BSR, and various 3rd-party groups **Copyright status: TA models, textures, sounds, concepts. **Description: Based on 3rd-party units created by various Total Annihilation unit groups and BSR's Uberhack, this is a port of the popular Absolute Annihilation mod to Spring. It is developed by Caydr, and is the most played mod for Spring.http://taspring.clan-sy.com/stats/ It is an attempt at a balanced version of Total Annihilation. *'XTA'. **Author(s): Swedish Yankspanker Clan **Copyright status: TA models, textures, sounds, concepts. **Description: This mod is packaged with the game, and developed by the Swedish Yankspankers. It is designed to be a further balanced mod of Total Annihilation. Starting from the 0.70b1 version of Spring, XTA: Pimped Edition is included with TA Spring, which includes more advanced graphics than the original XTA. This mod is the second most played mod on TA Spring. *'TA: World Domination'. **Author(s): GrOuNd_ZeRo, Maestro **Copyright status: Some TA textures, sounds from several sources. **Description: This mod is designed to simulate modern combat. *'Final Frontier "The Next Generation of War"'. **Author(s): Savant, Optimus Prime **Copyright status: TA textures, sounds, concepts. **Description: This mod features spaceship combat. *'Star Wars TA'. **Author(s): Gnome, Warlord Zinsj **Copyright status: Fan art. **Description: This mod is designed to simulate combat as shown in the Star Wars movies. *'Gundam Annihilation'. **Author(s): Smoth **Copyright status: Fan art. **Description: A mod focusing more on building than resource collection, Gundam Annihilation features Gundam combat. *'The Lost Legacy'. **Author(s): M3G **Copyright status: Unknown **Description: This mod adds a new race to TA Spring, featuring 150 new units. *'UberHack'. **Author(s): BSR **Copyright status: TA models, textures, sounds, concepts. **Description: Another rebalanced take on Total Annihilation gameplay. *'Expand & Exterminate' **Author(s): Fang **Copyright status: TA textures, sounds. **Description: A mod featuring three sides that each focus on a different strength; speed, power, and versatility. *'Xect vs. Mynn'. **Author(s): Chris "Xenoclone" Jorgensen, "Foe OfTheBee" and others. **Copyright status: GPL **Description: The original Xect vs. Mynn ported to the Spring engine. *'Nanoblobs' **Author(s): Argh **Copyright Status: GPL **Description: A mod originally designed for AI developers to test AI unit interaction, it is now a game that focuses more on strategy than tactics. Mods In Development *'Battletech' **Author:Archangel of Death **Copyright status:Unknown **Description: A mod based upon the world of Battletech, most commonly known for the MechWarrior game series. Focuses on management of a single unit. http://battletech.tauniverse.com/ *'Lego Spring' **Author(s):Shekkel **Copyright status:Unknown **Description: A mod divergent from the norm which seeks to provide a interesting play experience with the graphical singularity of Lego building blocks.http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=6851 *'Unnamed Final Frontier Project' **Author(s):Unknown **Copyright status:Unknown **Description: A mod designed to offer a well-balanced, complex space combat experience. Undertaken in reaction to the further development of Final Frontier "The Next Generation Of War".http://cs.selu.edu/~ssmith/BB/viewforum.php?f=3 *'GEM' **Author(s):Caydr **Copyright status:Unknown **Description: A space warfare mod, composed as an alternative to TA-derivative space mods.http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2808&highlight=gem Community Spring has a small, close-knit community that evolved from the original Total Annihilation community. At any given time, one can find many users online on the main Spring server. The more experienced users tend to know each other. A rank system is maintained to demonstrate the experience of its members. The future TA Spring continues to grow and improve. Planned features include: * A new unit scripting format to replace the outdated COB scripting language used by TA. A new unit format has already been made, replacing the outdated .3do, by adding UV mapping, self illumination, and better support for team colours. * A new map format, similar to Warcraft III's map format. * A totally reworked GUI. * Dynamic explosion, weapon and unit lighting. References External links *Spring homepage. *Spring forums. *Spring on BerliOS. *IRC Channel: #sy on irc.quakenet.org *FileUniverse Spring section. *Unknown-Files (FileUniverses' Lead mirror) Spring Section. *Personal review of TA Spring. Category:Total Annihilation Category:Open source games Category:Free, open source strategy games Category:Fanmade computer game remakes and sequels Category:Windows games Category:Linux games Category:Mac OS games de:TA Spring fr:TA Spring